Getting ready for Christmas

In the cathedral close the Christmas market chalets have arrived and the ice skating rink is in place. The market and ice rink open on 22 November

New shop opening

There have been a few prime High Street position shops that have closed in Winchester, but it looks like we have a new one coming..

I think this is in place of a travel agents that recently closed. The White Company sells nice/expensive bed linen, candles, household items, clothes, predominately in white!

Stained glass in the Great Hall

Westgate & my other hobby

This the Westgate, which I've posted photos of a number of times before. Today a group of us went out drawing around Winchester. Here's my quick sketch of the Westgate!

Morris Dancers

I know, I know, I haven't posted anything for ages! I am alive & so is Winchester.

Here is a photo of some Morris Dancers taken last weekend in The Square

Olympics sculpture

Near the cathedral there is an Olympics sculpture, a little bit camouflaged in this photo maybe

Mucky Duck

So, my last post noted that The White Swan had closed, it now appears to be in the process of re opening as The Mucky Duck.

Selling itself as a sports pub, not sure what that will mean, Sky Sports on full blast? We'll see! At least it's not closed down completely which is always a sad sight to see.

Another one bites the dust?

It looks like The White Swan pub in Hyde Street has closed. I have been in the pub a few times as it is not far from where I live, but I don't think it was as popular as some of the other pubs in Hyde, such as The King Alfred and the Hyde Tavern. Maybe it will re-open, as The Willow Tree has?

More Olympic Torch!

More photos from the Olympic cavalcade that passed by Hyde Street in Winchester yesterday.

Olympic Torch in Winchester!

I was amazingly excited today when the torch came past the end of my road, even teenage son got out of bed for it!

There was a large cavalcade of police motorcycles, bikes, cars, publicity trucks etc and finally the flame, and it passed so quickly! I'm not sure that the person carrying the torch was anyone famous (despite my son saying 'It's Orlando Bloom' !)

If you're feeling terribly bored here's a video of the route from Reading to Winchester, with the last few minutes of it coming through Hyde in Winchester.


torch relay video

Olympics are coming!

 

On Wednesday the Olympic torch passes through Winchester, infact right past the bottom of my road! Here at the Cathedral they are obviously setting up for the arrival of the flame with a number of Olympic Flags. I have been working on the Olympics since 2010, and to say I have Olympic fatigue is not an understatement! However I really am quite excited about the torch coming here and the games themselves, I have even taken the day off work om Wednesday to try to see the torch!

Hat Fair

I'll admit I was away for most of the weekend so did not go to any of the Hat Fair this year, however I do have one quick photo to add to the blog. It has been so wet, it has rained every day in July so far. I remember last year getting slightly sunburnt! No chance of that at the moment. I imagine the weather put off quite a few people unfortuantely.

Wet summer

Last week was wet and rainy, this weekend looks the same and the forecast for next week? More of the same. A photo here of the high street. Note the London 2012 banner, the Olympic torch passes through Winchester on Wednesday! Hopefully the rain will not extinguish it!

Fulling Mill Cottage

On a walk around Alresford, a pretty market town close to Winchester, we came across the very pretty Fulling Mill cottage on the River Arle. It dates from the 13th Century. It fell into disuse as mill in the 19th century and became derelict. It was renovated in the 1950s and is now a private house.

The fulling of cloth was a process to tighten and shrink cloth and mills constructed for this purpose were called Fulling Mills, hence the cottage's name!

Farmers Market at the Cathedral

I've seen the farmers market a few times now set up by the cathedral. I bought some very nice bread and scones and the free range eggs are cheaper than the supermarket

Degustibus

Degustibus? I know the French word 'degustation' means a tasting, but it always sounds a little too close to 'disgusting' to me! Anyway, I'm sure these breads outside Caracoli coffee shop were very nice. On 'google-ing' I discovered that Degustibus are Artisan Bakers based in Oxfrodshire. Raisin, date and pecan loaf sounds nice!

Keeping fit

I think this is part of the Forces Fit who run outdoor military fitness classes delivered by serving/ex serving members of the armed forces. I needed a nice sit down with a cup of tea after the exertion of watching them!

Mayfest

Yesterday was Mayfest in Winchester, a celebration of traditional and contemporary music, dance and song. In the High Street they had a couple of Morris Dancing groups. I think of it as a very traditional English dance, although it's not something I've ever done, nor anyone I know of! There were some other Morris Dancers I featured on the blog back in December 2010. As you can see from the sky it's been glorious weather here most of the week!

Snow at Winnall Moors?

Over at Winnal Moors the other day the river had a strange coating on top, it almost looked like snow.

Old & New lights in Hyde

This old style street light in Hyde is actually newer than its modern looking neighbour

Kyoto Kitchen

Kyoto Kitchen in Parchment Street is due to open sometime soon, it will be the first Japanese restaurant in Winchester. The restaurant is part of a small group of Winchester restaurants which include Bengal Sage, on St George's Street, and Bangkok Brasserie, on Jewry Street. I'm not sure if I'll eat here as I don't like fish, but hopefully there's more to Japanese food than sushi.

High Street market

There have been lots of debates on the market in the High Street & I've decided that on reflection I don't really like it that much. The stalls block the entrances to shops and make it difficult to walk down the High Street at the weekend because it gets so crowded, some of the stalls sell some interesting things but there is also a lot of uninteresting stuff.

Bunting a-go-go

Winchester High Street was full of Union Jack Flags this morning. A lot of the shops have royal/British themed window displays. This of course is for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee marking 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. The main Diamond Jubilee celebrations will centre around the extended bank holiday weekend of  2-5 June.

As an aside the weather here today was cold, I'm a bit of a wimp weather-wise but I was wearing my winter coat and I was still cold....and it's nearly June!

Union Jacks

Jamie Oliver's restaurant Union Jacks has now opened in Winchester. I passed by yesterday and couldn't get close enough to the menu as there were a lot of people crowding around it (and I didn't have my glasses on me!)

It seems to have created a lot of interest in Winchester. I had a look on their website and it doesn't look too expensive, so I will give it a try sometime.

Trusty Servant

On my recent trip to Minstead in the New Forest I came across The Trusty Servant inn. I know this 'creature' is the emblem of Winchester College and read on a plaque next to the pub a 16th century saying believed to have originated from Winchester College in the days when pupils at the college had personal servants

"A trusty servants portrait you would see
This emblematic figure well survey
The porkers snout not nice in diet shows
The padlock shut no secret he'll disclose
Patient the Ass his masters wrath will bear
Swiftness in his errand the stags feet declare
Loaded is left hand apt to labour saith
The vest his neatness; the open hand his faith;
Girt with his sword, his shield upon his arm,
Himself and master he'll protect from harm"

New Forest

OK, so this isn't Winchester, but the New Forest is a short drive away from city life here and last weekend I went to Minstead in the New Forest. I love the way the ponies (and cows) just do their thing! Wander here, go down this road, stop here to eat some grass, just roaming free!

Long Tall Sally

I haven't ever been inside this shop as I often have to have normal clothes shortened! But I'm certain it has a market & they have some nice things in their window

In bloom

Baristas Coffee House

First visit to a new coffee shop in the High Street. It's an independent which is always good. Slightly away from the very centre of the High Street, much more room inside and not as pricey as the other new edition to the High Street Caracoli. I don't really 'do' coffee, but the tea was nice and other half said the coffee was good and I had a nice slice of cake. There's also free wifi.

Currys closed

It was useful to have a small branch of Currys in the High Street, I bought my laptop in there when smoke started coming out of my old one!

Sorry I haven't posted in what seems like 100 years, allsorts of things have been going at home that have kept me away & I know there's lots of things in Winchester that I've missed too!

What's on at the Cathedral

 

The cathedral is not just about religious services and history, it has a lot of events going on, in and around its grounds. Outside theatre performances from The Twits to Shakespeare, organ recitals, military bands, tours, talks, kids activities, art, farmers markets, concerts, Olympics related events. 

Apologies also for the lack of posts (that's if there's anyone out there still looking at this blog!) which I blame partly on the London 2012 Olympics which I have been involved in since 2010. I recently discovered that the Olympic Torch will be coming to Winchester, a few steps away from my house!

Game over

Our branch of Game has closed. It did always seem quite busy, but obviously not busy enough unfortunately

Hillier Gardens

This isn't Winchester, but I think there's no harm in occasionally straying outside of the city limits, especially as I've been rather lazy in posting, so I'm going with the idea of a post on something is better than a post on nothing! So this is Hillier Gardens between Winchester and Romsey. It is 180 acres of gardens, with a variety of different areas, very pretty, and probably even nicer when all the flowers are in bloom

North Walls recreation ground

Another day of nice weather brings people out to the parks of Winchester.

Cathedral in the sun

The weather has been very nice here recently, and it always brings people outside, particularly here in front of the cathedral

New bollard

One of the new bollards that is in The Square. Back last December I did see some painting of bollards in a shop, so I presume this was one of them.

The Square re-opens

The Square has also re-opened now with it's new paving and a number of new painted bollards have also sprung up

Cornflowers re-opens!

Last month Cornflowers had closed down, passing by earlier today I saw that it had reopened, selling similar things as before.

More crocuses

or is that croci?

Willow Tree

 

It's open, it's closed, it's opening again soon. I have featured this pub before last year and noticed at Christmas that the pub had closed down and then later a couple of the windows had been boarding up - it wasn't looking good at all. I'm not quite sure whate happened but apparently the pub is now set to reopen next month, with the 3rd set of tenants in a year.

Waterside property

Whilst walking along the aptly named Water Lane in Winchester I saw these properties backing onto the River Itchen, I wonder whether the owners make use of their waterside location

Signs of spring